Study & Work... Jan 9

Today was a work day. I worked on freelance, did research on the places I'll be visiting, read a bunch, and caught up with things in general.

I couldn't take any more meat today, so found the one vegan restaurant in town for lunch. Then was given a burger for dinner.  It was admittedly delicious. I dont remember the last time I ate a whole burger. Letting myself off being a veggie is sorta hard. My stomach is having a hard time.

Had a kale salad. Such a relief.

Next month I hope to stay for a bit with the Navajo/Hopi people in Arizona who are working to protect their mountain from being mined.  Well, it's already being mined, but they are continuing the resistance. If you'd like to learn more about that, here is a documentary, called Broken Rainbow, which explains their struggle prior about 1984:


As part of going to this reservation, I have a lot of pre-reading to do, so I started that today. The article I read talked about racism within America.  That's a really broad statement and it's much more specific than that. I'm too tired to write about it.

The cold I've had is going away slowly but surely. It's wearing me out pretty thoroughly, which is probably good forced rest.

Heading out tomorrow to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Supposedly it's 70 degrees down there. PUMPED.

My stomache is yelling at me... Jan 8

Oconee National Park is about a half hour south of Athens.  Hopper & I spent a few hours wandering through the pathless woods, making fun of each other trying to navigate the landscape and catching up on old struggles we still work with. Some realtalk time is always good for the soul.

bark bench 

Oconee River

After our nature time, we picked up the Cutes from daycare with Sway and all went to:

This was a barbeque place and it was fantastic. I believe this is the first time I've had pork in over a year and wow my stomache is seriously feeling it right now...

But before we got to the ButtHutt, Sway insisted that we drive by "The Tree That Owns Itself." I was pretty confused by this, not knowing what he was talking about.  But as we drove up this old cobblestone road, I noticed a large tree [a white oak] surrounded by an old fence that juts into the road. "This tree was preserved by a man who loved the tree and built protection around it so no one could tear it down in the name of 'growth'," Sway explained.  This is the tree:

I hopped out of the car to read the stone at the foot of the tree:

Apparently, many people & companies have tried to tear down this tree, but there have been numerous arguments about the protection of it, what its boundaries of branches & roots are, etc.  I think this is fantastic.  Read that wikipedia page if you care to know more.  Makes me wonder what kind of relationship the tree and William had throughout their years together.  That is some dedication.

Roads keep turning... Jan 7

Today is Monday and I am in Athens, Georgia. Hopper, the Cutes and I hung out this morning, playing hide and go seek and making a trip to the library. I found a book about road trips that I’m going to use in order to go on a little expedition this week.  This afternoon I went for a walk in Dudley Park along the Oconee River (pictures below) and then buckled down on some freelance work I’ve been sitting on for a while. The good thing about freelancing while traveling is that you can still do it.  But you still have to do it…

I’m feeling better today, which is a blessing. I’ve drunk more tea in the last 3 days than this whole year put together.  7 days into the year, its totally true. I’m hoping to kibash this thing out of my system in the next few days. Being ill while traveling is so frustrating.  Being ill is frustrating.

Sounds like my dear Bear will be joining me for a few days at the Grand Canyon, which is super fun to think about! We are finalizing plans today. Woohoo!

There was a slight chance that Squirrel Ninja was not going to be able to join me for the 10-day trip we planned that starts on Friday. I was going to be real sad about that, but I just got word that he’s coming still, so yeah! That’ll be awesome.

Friends!

So here is the fun place that I explored today.

the first railroad bridge that went through Athens, GA

Biggest jungle gym ever.

And this is one of the signs in the park. These kinds of signs always makes me roll my eyes at the first settlers for not learning from the native people.

Changing topics, let me tell you a story about my friend, the Old Dog, back in Philly.  As I was readying myself to leave, I asked friends to share music with me for the 167 hours of driving I'm going to be doing over the next 3 months.  Most people forgot, but one day when I got to work, a present was on my desk from the Old Dog. It was a really nice wooden box, which is sweet because I gave him a special boxed container years ago for Christmas. If that was the extent of the gift, I would have been heart-warmed. But then I opened the box and saw a beautiful journal that his wife Swan gave me and then 24 wrapped CDs marked for 24 of the states that I'm driving through on my trip. Each CD has songs that have to do with the state or are by bands that are from that state.  I was shocked. I mean, who does that?  Great friends.  Jeesh.  So I've had this song in my head for the last few days, thanks to the Old Dog.

Modernity vs. Basics... Jan 6

Dear life,

Here are some photos left over from my North Carolina stay,

the catch water system at the homestead where I stayed in NC, built by Horse & Sparrow

the cabin where I stayed in NC

the huge spider that kept me company

And here are some of the pictures from yesterday's adventures at Blue Heron.

This is one of the buildings at Blue Heron. I thought the hand-done siding was beautiful.

This is the little shack made of pallets, back view. (built by a 7 yr old)

This is the front view of the pallet house.

This is one portion of a great mosaic that wrapped this house.  I dream of doing the same one day.

I drove to Athens, Georgia today to stay with my friends Hopper & Sway, and their beautiful little girls Cute # 1 and Cute # 2, who are 3 and 2, I believe.  It was a different feeling for me to come to this house with all amenities available to us.  I took a warm shower where I didn't have to warm up the water over a fire beforehand.  I flushed poo down a toilet instead of layering leaves ontop of my excrement in a bucket and emptying the bucket daily.  I have a room with a door so far away from the other bedrooms in the house that I can't hear anyone else.  Internet is magically in the air and connects to my computer so I can write this silly blog.  Other waves are in the air so that the hunk of intricate metal that makes up my phone can send little messages to my friends in Philly.

We exist in our world so differently now than how things have been for centuries. I have many feelings about this. And after living "simpler" for even just a few days, and coming back to modernity, I am feeling surprised with how far we have taken our comfort levels in our modern way of living.  We have made things so that we are so separate from the basic realities of our lives (like fire-making, food gathering, trash, lights). Is this a good thing? Meaning, is it better to live with so many gadgets between us and the basic realities of life? Do we have a need to ever learn those skills again in the modern 1st world? Have we simplified our lives so that things are easier? In all honesty, living life last week, I don't think modernity is any easier, it is just a different way of spending one's day. We work nowadays so that we don't have to work at home in the same capacity as we, as humans, have for centuries. Is this "easier" life a better life? Who is it easier for? Who gets the shit end of the stick in this "easier" life? I think that the earth gets crapped on a lot when we fill our landfills up with excess broken gadgets, plastic, and toxic waste. And that's just one part of the shit end of the stick.

I could go on and will go on elsewhere.  But all that said, I think this week will hold a lot of beauty in it and I look forward to spending time around here and with Hopper, Sway & the Cutes.

Stars, In their multitude... Jan 5

Dear life,

I only have a few minutes. Pictures will come later. I have to cook dinner (black bean burgers) but I had to check email for some freelance gigs, so I thought I'd jot down what I did today.

Umm... I forget.

No, wait! Ok. We went to the community where Impala lives.  It's called Blue Heron Farms and from what I gather, it's an older community (medium age around 60?) where creative folks have built alternative, or "green" housing spaces and live in loose community together.  After a few stories, I understood that most of the houses were built by couples who have split up since and then each person had built a 12'x12' living space on either side of the house in order to continue living there.  There were quite a few of these 3-building units, and I honestly didn't want to know any more of their stories. That just sounds rough. The houses were really beautiful though and the community seems to be thriving now.

Impala showed us the lake with the zipline over it, the community garden and cattle yard, and a great little shack built by a 7 yr-old out of pallets, mud, clay, and straw.  Pictures to come. It was awesome.

We sat around and talked a lot afterwards.  I developed a sneeze the day before departing on my journey and today I am battling it fiercely. It needs to go away NOW.  Its kind of wearing out my whole body at this point.

Tomorrow I leave for Georgia.

Oh and last night we took a night walk and stared at the stars.  I was looking up for so long that my neck was hurting, so I looked down just to realize that we were standing on a bridge over a river that all the stars were reflected in. It was beautiful.  The city-girl came out in me big time as I squealed over how much I love seeing more than 49 stars at a time.  It's pretty special for me.  

Dreaming of Space... Jan 4

The theme of my stay here is becoming “Shelters” and I love it.  Today, after a lazy waking up and a great chat over hash browns, a friend who I’ll refer to as Impala, met us to take a trip to a junk yard just up the road from Circle Acres.  Next month, Horse & Sparrow are moving into an old school bus that is stationary on a property a few hours from here so that Sparrow can take some intense herbal medicine classes around that area. Using this as inspiration, Impala wanted to look into purchasing either an old school bus or truck box for a similar build-out living situation.  It was fun jumping through dozens of gutted vehicles, dreaming of how the spaces could be lived in and what one would need to do in order to make that happen.  I have limited experience with what its like to live in a converted school bus and always find the idea appealing if done in a wholistic way. However, I would want my pretend school bus’ engine to run somehow and not be stuck in a field.  Personal preference, I suppose.

junk yard beauty

Horse envisioning life in a box

Today is a beautiful day with a bright sun in the sky, warming our faces.  I’m glad to have this blog to write in, although I think blogs are a kind of weird thing in general.  My “alone time” for now is filled with taking note of all the things we are doing while I'm not alone. I don’t think there’s any way that my whole 3 months will be as great as the first 2 days have been, but here’s hoping.

I feel very kindred to, supported by and supportive of Horse & Sparrow.  There are few people I run into who combine Christianity, anarchism, and primitivism into one sentence and even fewer who attempt to live it out. The three of us have all gone through some pretty intense community situations over time, some of which involve how we and others have decided to live out ideals, so its good to sit back and break down why we are on the path we are on, what energizes us to keep going, and what we need to lay down and continue on without.

In that same spirit, last night I had some time to myself and thought I’d come up with some new years resolutions.  I got as far as making the graphic below and then went really blank with any actual resolutions.  I might make some seasonal resolutions that can apply to this journey I’m on.  I have no idea what my life will look like come spring.

no actual resolutions, just categories...

Driving back from the junk yard, we saw another tree house, climbed up the ladder into it, giggled & dreamed, sighed, climbed back down the ladder, got in the car and kept driving.

dreams left on the side of the road

Finally Some Mud On My Boots – Jan 3

Dear life,

One tank of gas got me from Philly down to Siler City, NC.  That Prius is amazing.  Horse & Sparrow welcomed me into their cabin with a hot meal last night.  It is refreshing to talk freely with them about “primitive” skills, post-industrial survivalism, and shelter-building while wandering around goats, chickens, and composting out houses. I’m not in Kensington anymore.  However, hunting season has filled the air with gunshots around here and I am bummed that the shot of a gun firing is more familiar to me than the coyotes at night.  This country air will be good for me.

Today we visited Circle Acres, which is a community closeby of about 10 folks who have built a bunch of shelters and 12’x12’ living quarters, community kitchens, and a small CSA farm on a plot of land and are figuring out how to live in community together out in the country.  I got a great tour of the area and got to pop into a number of the structures, which are all heated with wood burning stoves. What an inspiration to me when thinking about alternative living spaces.  Below is a view of 2 of the structures.

12'x12' structure with addition. Back door view.

12'x12' with addition. Front view.

Inside, 1st floor

The tree house!!!!

When I first moved into Cambria (my house in Philly), I had visions of continuing to invest time & energy into the build-out of the already creative space by designing mosaics, building shelving and plastered or cobbed walls, filled with little treasures & secret shelves.  This past year took the wind out of my sails with these build-out thoughts, but the structures we saw today sparked a lot of ideas for how we could try out some new ideas at home. 

The lady who is building the tree house pictured above had never built anything structural before.  And here she is, figuring it out, getting help, and just going for it.  Not always the easiest thing to do, but the “just go for it” attitude gets a lot more accomplished than psyching yourself out and never getting anything else done.  Note to self.

I am sitting in an empty 12'x12' lofted house right now, hooked into the one ethernet cable on this homestead, typing with chilly fingers as a bent-eared cat watches me from the porch, waiting to escort me back to Horse & Sparrow's cabin.  I'm going to do that.